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PAC RADAR series on AI-related service: what service providers in Europe can do for AI and GenAI projects
PAC RADAR series on AI-related service: what can service providers in Europe do for AI and GenAI projects
A storm of attention is blowing around artificial intelligence, and a hurricane is raging around GenAI. Both technologies have been at the center of attention for some time now, not only in the IT world but also in the business world, in media, and even in politics. The reason for the hype around AI is the enormous technical advances made in the past two years, especially in GenAI, which have greatly fuelled the enthusiasm for AI’s capabilities and potential.
In this climate, PAC launched its INNOVATION RADAR series on AI-related services to gain a clearer picture of IT service providers’ portfolios in Europe, France, and Germany and the current project landscape. We conducted in-depth interviews with 25 providers and gathered detailed information on their AI and GenAI-related service portfolios and capabilities, analyzing and evaluating all information based on our proven PAC RADAR methodology.
What have we learned from the discussions and analyses?
None of the service providers started their AI activities with the emerging GenAI hype; they all have a long history in AI. Some service providers have a history of more than 20 years. Many have been using AI in their own organizations for several years, for example, in service desks, for e-learning, in HR, and for code analysis and testing in software development.
AI units are usually organisationally integrated into existing data-focused units or merged with them. All providers are massively expanding their AI consultant capacities, usually at double-digit growth rates.
The services portfolio focuses on consulting and advisory services. This reflects the fact that the market is still immature, and customers seek orientation, strategy, and use cases. An important asset for many providers is developing a use case database in order to implement AI and GenAI solutions more quickly.
When carrying out projects, the providers rely on an extensive ecosystem and technology partners, including hyperscalers and other AI/LLM specialists, plus research institutions (universities, DFKI, Max Planck), business app providers (Salesforce, SAP, Oracle), data and automation specialists (Databricks, UiPath, etc.), and AI start-ups. With Mistral AI and Aleph Alpha, they enter into partnerships to meet customers’ requirements for transparency and sovereignty, but this is currently a niche topic.
The AI projects carried out to date cover common processes in the business areas of back office (finance, controlling), IT operations, SCM, and digital customer engagement. Reference projects take place in all sectors, but there is a focus on AI projects in the manufacturing industry. With regard to the highly popular topic of GenAI, reference projects are mostly centered on consulting; implementation projects are still rare in this segment.
The results of the PAC RADAR series on AI-related services were published in various reports and RADAR charts, which show the most suitable service providers for specific business processes (such as back-office workflows, HCM, digital customer engagement, IT operations, SCM, etc.) in different regions (Europe, France, Germany) and in specific focus areas (AI-related services for the German Mittelstand (SMEs), GenAI).
PAC’s RADARs provide transparency on the strengths of global players and the special capabilities of local providers when it comes to consulting and deployment services for AI projects. The RADARs also help user companies choose suitable service partners for their AI projects.